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Thursday, August 30, 2012

By Elizabeth BriggsResearch Associate at Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Guyana’s historical ethnic tension between the Indo-Guyanese and the Afro-Guyanese communities is routinely manifested in the political life of the small South American country. In Guyana, the larger Indo-Guyanese segment of the population favors the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C), while Afro-Guyanese largely support the coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which was formed in 2011 primarily by the People’s National Congress, as well as the Alliance for Change. In the November 2011 elections, the PPP/C-backed candidate Donald Ramotar was declared the presidential victor, but his party lost its parliamentary majority by one seat for the first time since 1992, giving the opposition alliance of the APNU and the AFC a virtual veto power over the national agenda.

The current tensions between Guyana’s major two parties boiled over during July in the country’s second largest city, Linden, a traditional stronghold of Afro-Guyanese electoral strength and political muscle. On July 18, three Lindeners partaking in an allegedly APNU-supported demonstration were killed and dozens more were injured while protesting the government’s increase of electricity rates in the region. Resulting protests and acts of arson inflicted significant infrastructural damages on the city, including the burning of the One Mile Primary School.

The PPP/C pointed to the protestors, who they believe were incited by APNU agent provocateurs, for the damage. In turn, the APNU has accused the police force, acting under PPP/C influence, of being racially motivated. PPP/C defector Khemraj Ramjattan, now the leader of the opposition Alliance for Change, went as far as stating, “It is my firm view, I can’t prove it, but my firm opinion that there are state agents involved (in Linden) operating under the arrangements of some of the people in senior government offices that are creating these burnings. I cannot believe that Lindeners are going to burn a school that 800 students go to. It has to be state agents doing that. The PPP thrives on these situations and the situation has the capacity to bring back their supporters into their wagon and they want that to happen.”[i]

The state-run Guyana Chronicle fought back against these accusations with an editorial titled “Ramjattan has gone into pure, unadulterated evil,” which accused Mr Ramjattan of treason and adamantly denied any governmental involvement.[ii] Eusi Kwayana, himself a former member of the PPP/C in the 1960s, came out strongly against PPP/C actions in Linden, denouncing their one-party administration and accused the government of a “barefaced and cowardly attack” on critical journalist Freddie Kissoon.[iii]

On August 21 President Ramotar signed a pact with Linden leaders, finally bringing to an end the four weeks of chaos and negating the provocative rise in electricity costs for Lindeners. In response to a request from the Guyanese government that was also approved of by the APNU, a CARICOM committee consisting of Justice Lensley Wolfe, KD Knight of Jamaica, and Ms Dana Seetahal of Trinidad and Tobago will investigate the situation and is expected to announce its findings by the end of September.[iv] It is certain that the late President Cheddi Jagan would have just cause to weep for the rack and ruin of contemporary Guyanese politics gutting the nation’s political life.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as being "one of the nation's most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers." For more information, visit www.coha.org or email coha@coha.org

FOREIGN CRIMINALS DUMPED HERE

A former high ranking police officer has accused the
United States of exacerbating this country’s crime problem by dumping
criminals in The Bahamas who are not Bahamian and should be sent
elsewhere.

In an exclusive interview with the Bahama Journal yesterday, former
Deputy Commissioner of Police Paul Thompson raised concerns about an
increasingly large percentage of the criminal population in The Bahamas
that is not Bahamian.

Mr. Thompson, a 30-year Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) veteran,
said that the situation is further complicated by the fact that the
United States is deporting criminals to The Bahamas whom he says should
be sent elsewhere.

Mr. Thompson said the Bahamian government should demand that the US stop sending criminals to The Bahamas who are not Bahamians.

“It appears that anyone picked up in the United States who came from
The Bahamas – the person might have stowed away or something else, but
as long as the Americans establish that the person came from here, they
will send them here,” he said. “They could be Haitian, Jamaican or
anything else. Their citizenship has not been established. If they came
from here, they are sending them back here and this is something we need
to ask the US to stop.”

“The [Bahamian] government should say to the US – stop sending these
people to us who are not Bahamian; send them to their country.”

The former deputy commissioner of police reminded that this situation
should highlight the importance of creating a proper immigration
regime.

He also warned of the precarious position the country places itself
in by not reforming its policies regarding processing illegal nationals.

“During the earthquake in Haiti 350 dangerous prisoners escaped –
gunmen, rapists and political prisoners escaped. We do not have a
fingerprint, a photograph or a name of any of them and we do not know
who of them are here and these are things we have to fight,” he said.

Mr. Thompson also called on the government to hold off on its
decision to repatriate those Haitian nationals apprehended at sea in
waters off Mangrove Cay, Andros last week until first determining
whether they were involved in human smuggling.

“At least with the foreigners we have that law deportation. We ask
people to leave and put on stop list. This boat with these people in
Andros, well that’s a big boat. The owners of the boat, the captain and
crew we should seek them out and put them in jail. Those people should
go to jail and the remainder of the boat should be seized.”

The vessel carrying nearly 200 Haitians ran aground Saturday from the effects of Tropical Storm Isaac.
Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell has confirmed
to the Journal that while investigations in to the incident involving
the Haitian nationals is underway, the government was moving forward
with its decision to repatriate the 197 nationals to Haiti today.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Haiti, previously called Ayiti by the Tainos who inhabited the island,
was the most populous and the most organized of the chain of the
territories of the Caribbean. Their days were changed on December 5,
1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived in a northern bay renamed Bay of
St Nicholas because of the feast of St Nicholas on that day. The Tainos
received the Spanish explorers with genuine hospitality, offering gold
chains to the men. Columbus returned to Spain to inform Queen Isabella
of his discovery, leaving behind a crew of sailors.

Within a generation, the population of some one million Tainos was
reduced to hundreds. Those who were not decimated through new disease
brought by the Spanish men, such as tuberculosis, gonorrhea and
syphilis, were destroyed through hard labour, alcohol and plain
mutilation.

Yet, the gold exploration had to continue, and a priest by the name of
Las Casas, under the pretext of protecting the Taino population from
oblivion, obtained from the Queen of Spain, the authorization to grant
the right for merchants to seek and bring Africans into the Western
hemisphere to labour in the mines.

From 1503 to 1793, almost three hundred years, the black slaves toiled
the land, producing sugar, cotton and cocoa that enriched principally
the French colonists, who ruled the island with an iron fist.

It was as such until a Jamaican slave by the name of Bookman organized a
voodoo ceremony in the northern part of St Domingue on August 14, 1791,
to energize the slaves in revolting with the slogan: Better death than
return to slavery!

The destruction of the plantations followed, but Bookman was seized and
killed. Toussaint Breda, who became later Toussaint Louverture,
continued the movement. A well educated and profoundly religious man,
Toussaint was aware of the wind of human rights brought upon St Domingue
first by the American Revolution in 1776 and later by the French
Revolution in 1789.

Through several battles, he defeated first the British, later the
Spanish and proposed a French Commonwealth to Napoleon Bonaparte,
leading the destiny of the island with prosperity and hospitality for
all. His reputation as a nation builder was sterling. Indeed the second
president of the United States, John Adams, already trading with the
governor of the country, was contemplating advising him to become king
of the island.

Bonaparte responded with an armada supported by the third president of
the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Through a ruse, where family
affection was at the root, two sons of Toussaint were on the boat coming
from France, and he was lured into the hands of Rochambeau, Bonaparte’s
brother in law, who was the commandant of the naval regiment.

Toussaint was captured, imprisoned and sent to die in a prison in
France. He had predicted that the roots of freedom were strong and deep
and they would not wither.

Jean Jacques Dessalines took up the revolutionary movement and, within
three years, he had succeeded, with the support of other generals such
as Henry Christophe and Alexander Petion, to root out all the French
soldiers from the island. In a memorable battle on November 18, 1803,
the ragtag army of slaves succeeded where Spartacus with his 6,000 men
could not accomplish with the Roman Empire some 2,000 years earlier in
70BC.

They rang the song of freedom for all slaves on the island and foreshadowed the beginning of the end of slavery in the world.

This saga was a short glorious moment for Haiti. Two years after
Independence Day, on January 1, 1804, Jean Jacques Dessalines was
assassinated on October 17, 1806, by his comrades in arms. His ideas of
nation building, making Haiti hospitable to all were not the vision of
the majority of the other generals. They envisioned the spoils of the
colony for themselves only, and their families.

Haiti has never recovered. Through internal revolts fomented by foreign
powers such as France, Germany and the United States, with the
assistance of, first, mulatto rulers and later poorly educated black
generals, Haiti and its people descended into a spiral of ignorance,
misery and environmental calamity until today.

The latest one, the earthquake of January 12, 2010, destroyed its
capital Port au Prince, as well as sending to death some 300,000 people.
This disaster was preceded by 150 years of neglected mulatto
governments and recently 50 years of black dictatorial regimes, followed
by illiberal democracy that is closer to criminality than good
governance.

Its culture

The slaves that climbed the mountains of Haiti after the Independence
Day became the Haitian peasants. No one has ever bothered to ask them
whether they should have good institutions such as schools and hospitals
or decent infrastructure such as roads, electricity and communications.
They have preserved intact the African culture mixed with the century’s
old acculturation taken from the remaining Tainos and French masters
during slavery times. Haiti is at the same time a mosaic of purely
African, Santa Fe, USA, and Provence, France, culture.

The aftershock of the Haitian revolution was varied and unnerving as a
cause. The Latin American revolution with Bolivar, through the help of
Alexander Petion, took place. Abraham Lincoln and Frederic Douglass,
inspired by Haiti, brought about the black emancipation. As such, the
nation was ostracized by the then world order of slavery.

Only the Vatican, through a Concordat in 1860, accepted to send teachers
to Haiti to educate the population. The priests and the nuns did what
they could, they provided the bread of good formation to the tiny elite
that peopled the cities, leaving behind the masses in the rural areas
uneducated and ill advised.

Haiti is today a land of two cultures, the land of Catholic, refined,
French-speaking and sophisticated city dwellers, as well as the land of
voodoo practitioners, dispossessed former peasants living in squalid
condition in shantytowns on the outskirts of prime land near the sea or
peasants still forgotten in the mountains surrounding the cities.

Desperate, some have taken the ultimate chance of seeking a more
hospitable sky through leaky boats to Florida, The Bahamas and all over
the Caribbean islands, in particular, Dominica, the Dominican Republic,
going as far as Suriname on firm land in Latin America.

Handy in arts and in art-craft, their production under different labels
can be seen in the best hotels and shops on the tourist trail of the
Caribbean, except that the label made in Haiti is removed. Good
agricultural workers, from a native land that has been eroded by poor
soil treatment and tree cutting for charcoal, they are replenishing the
landscape of the Dominican Republic, Dominica and The Bahamas with fruit
trees and hard wood that could have enriched their own country.

Its people

With a population of 10 million people, Haiti is in the enviable
position of Sweden, Finland, Norway or Denmark; except it is not as
cold. While the Haitian population is highly creative, it is not as
educated and sophisticated as those Nordic countries, as such it miss
the key ingredient that could propel the country into full employment
and the bliss of growth and development.

It is a young population, eager to learn and pierce the world of
modernity. Its adult population is resilient and willing to work hard
for its daily bread. But its lack of education will continue to hamper
the optimum utilization of its natural talents and the zeal to achieve.

In spite of this deficiency, Haiti, a small island with the proportions
of the State of Maryland, has a brand name that goes beyond the Western
Hemisphere. It has greatly contributed to the nation building process of
several countries, through the utilization of its professional
citizens, including the Congo, Brazzaville and Quebec, Canada. The
famous Haitians, or celebrities with Haitian origins, include a roster
that spans the arts, politics, sports and music. The list includes but
is not limited to: E-W Dubois, James Audubon, Pierre Toussaint, Wyclef
Jean, Edwige Danticat, Michaelle Jean, Andre Michael (boxer) Jean Michel
Basquiat, Garcelle Beauvais, Jimmy Jean Louis, 50 Cent, Pierre Garcon,
Jonathan Vilma, Maxwell Garcon.

Haiti experienced an avalanche of help from the nonprofit organizations
and from the UN after the earthquake of 2010, but donor fatigue is
languishing around because of a lack of good coordination and sound
vision from the government. Will this new regime of Martelly/Lamothe
deliver the goods to a nation and a people, so eager for so long to
enjoy the bliss of hospitality?

It is too early to label the new regime as a Teflon government or a true
agent of change that will transform the nation into the Tahiti brand of
the western hemisphere, because of its natural and spectacular scenery,
or the Bali brand of the Caribbean, because of its many cultural and
religious festivals that are the staple of everyday life.

Anyway, Haiti has been too good for the region for humanity not to come
to its help with enduring and sustainable tools that will change the
lives of so many enduring and eager citizens ready to enjoy the bounties
of God on this land that was once called the Pearl of the Islands.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Something is going on in Her Majesty’s Prison in Fox Hill. And ‘that something’ does not have a good smell.

Whatever it is – it comes with stench attached.

We have heard enough and been told enough to believe that the public
should have a full, frank and totally truthful accounting of what is
going down in that complex.

Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming continues to deny a senior
prison officer’s claims that a “new breed of criminals” is infiltrating
Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP), but also is quick to add that gang
activity is increasing at the state-run facility.

Perhaps this might be the key: Rahming concedes: – One of the new
developments is that we now have discernible gang related groupings in
the prison. That is a fairly new phenomenon…”

Ah, hah! Echo cries: – we now have discernible gang related groupings in the prison!

Could this not be evidence of some facts that should matter to the
neighbors, family and friends of both the men and women in prison and
those who work there?

As we have learned, Dr. Rahming said prison officials are making some
headway in figuring out just why gang activity is increasing.

We want to know what this means; how are they measuring headway.

We also want to know the facts behind Prisoner Officer Sergeant Gregory
Archer’s statement to the effect that a new breed of more violent
hardened criminals are infiltrating HMP, making prison officers’ jobs
more dangerous.

The tit-for-tat between Rahming and Archer is itself revelatory of a
system that is in need of urgent attention from the Minister of National
Security and his colleagues around the Table.

This is most urgent.

Notwithstanding Rahming’s sophistry concerning human nature and all
that blather of his about how Cain killed Abel where he so brilliantly
opined: “I wouldn’t say that there is a new breed of inmates coming
into the prison, but certainly the numbers are greater. But human nature
has been the same ever since Cain killed Abel; human nature has not
changed.

“We have certainly more persons to deal with, but the nature of mankind has not changed.”
The fact of the matter is this: the prison officer is the man in the middle of the mix.

If this man or woman ever becomes convinced that they should concede
the fight, the prison would then and thereafter be in and under the
command of the men and women in the gangs.

We must have none of this.

We need – as a matter of the most urgent priority – to know whether
there is any truth to the word we are getting that speaks to prison
realities where cell-phones are bought, sold and used by inmates; where
recalcitrant men and women on remand are routinely being subjected to
sexual abuse and where – for better or worse – money talks.

Then, there is all that talk about the extent to which the prison complex is pervaded and saturated with violence.

As Archer testifies: “…Despite prison already being a dangerous place
to live and work, over the years the jail atmosphere has gotten even
worse, mimicking scenes out of movies and the hit American television
show Lock Up with the fights getting even more dangerous…”

And yet, Dr. Rahming maintains that Her Majesty’s Prison is safe.

Rahming’s parsing of prison reality would have us all believe that
Archer is not lying; that Her Majesty’s Prisons is under control; that
officers come to work with the fair expectation that they will return
home to their families; inmates can go to bed at night with the fair
expectations that, unless the Lord takes them home, they will wake up in
the morning and those are signs of a well-run prison.

And then there is more of same: “A prison is not an easy place to
run… But, that is not to say that danger is not ever present because it
is ever present.”

Then he concludes danger is ever present as underscored by Rahming
himself: “I think it’s fair to say that officers, although they work
amongst the worst of the worst, they are in a safe environment insofar
as one can call a prison safe.”

Quite frankly, we are not impressed.

We need hear no more to conclude that an end should come to this
so-called ‘debate’ between Archer who seems to know what he is talking
about and the Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming who seems to have
the public believe him when he says what he says.

We need to hear from the Minister of National Security; and we need
to know what – if anything – he proposes to do about this mess.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Mérida, 17th August 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) –
Venezuela and the ALBA alliance have backed Ecuador against “threats”
from Britain, after Ecuador granted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London yesterday.

Swedish authorities want to extradite Assange from the UK to investigate allegations against him of sexual assault.

However Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino voiced fears that
Assange, whose website Wikileaks often publishes US government secret
documents, could face “political persecution” if extradited to Sweden,
including being handed over to US authorities.

UK foreign minister William Hague described Ecuador’s move as a
“matter of regret,” insisting that “We will not allow Mr Assange safe
passage out of the United Kingdom, nor is there any legal basis for us
to do so”.

Patino also heavily criticised what he termed an “open threat” by the
British government to enter the Ecuadorian embassy by force to arrest
Assange. On 15 August he cited a diplomatic letter delivered through the
British embassy in Quito, which stated “You need to be aware that there
is a legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act
1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to arrest Mr Assange
in the current premises of the Embassy”.

“We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you are
not capable of resolving this matter of Mr Assange's presence in your
premises, this is an open option for us," the letter continued.

Reactions

Venezuela called for Ecuador’s decision to grant Assange asylum to be
respected, and criticised the British government’s conduct over the
issue.

“We hope that the British government respects not only international
law but the right to political asylum that Assange has received,” said
yesterday Venezuela’s foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro.

Speaking during an official visit in the Dominican Republic, Maduro
also expressed his rejection of “the arrogance and predominance that the
British government has had in the region [Latin America], directly
threatening a democratic and sovereign government and announcing the
possible violation of international law”.

Meanwhile, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
(ALBA), which includes Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador among its members,
also released a statement yesterday criticising the British government’s
message to Ecuador.

The statement raised concerns that by Britain’s “threats” made
“against the integrity” of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the British
government was in danger of violating the Vienna Convention on
[Diplomatic] Privileges and Immunities.

Declaring the ALBA’s “unfailing solidarity” with Ecuador, the
statement further warned the British government of “the serious
consequences for the relations with our countries that will follow in
the event these threats are carried out”.

According to Maduro, regional organisations the ALBA, the Union of
South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC) are being “activated…to accompany the
Ecuadorian government” over the issue.

UNASUR is set to hold an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers
in Quito, Ecuador, this Sunday. The Organisation of American States
(OAS) also held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss the state of
UK-Ecuador relations.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

JULY 31, 2012 will be recalled in the history of Latin America and the
Caribbean as a landmark, a giant step, with Venezuela’s full entry into the
Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), in the first extension of this customs
association in the 21 years of its existence.

It will also be recalled as a resounding failure of the imperial policy of
the United States in relation to a region which it can no longer dominate at its
whim.

For Argentine political economist Atilio A. Borón, from the geopolitical
point of view, Venezuela’s inclusion in MERCOSUR after a six-year wait
constitutes the greatest U.S. diplomatic defeat since the disastrous Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Beatriz Miranda, columnist in the Colombian El Espectador, defines it
as a strategic accomplishment, given that the new entrant concedes the bloc a
greater economic and commercial weight. Analysts consider that in geopolitical
terms, Caracas’ arrival represents the possibility of increased Brazilian
insertion in the Andes and Caribbean and Venezuelan access to the South
Atlantic. Thus MERCOSUR is facilitating strategic integration, giving the group
an Amazonian, Atlantic, Caribbean and Andean identity, and a strong energy
component.

Doubtless, this bold step will affect U.S. interests in the region in the
long term, given that it prevents Venezuela from signing a free trade treaty
with this country, still set on re-conquering the Bolivarian Republic’s oil
wealth.

It is no secret that with Venezuela‘s energy potential – according to the
Organization of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) it has the largest certified oil
reserves in the world: 297,570 million barrels – the industrial vigor of Brazil
(the sixth largest world economy), and the agricultural potential of Argentina
and Uruguay, this regional bloc will acquire a strategic role. Created March 25,
1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, it promotes the free circulation of goods and
services, common external tariffs and trade policy, as well as coordinated
macroeconomic policies among member states and compatible legislation.

In effect, the United States was unable to prevent MERCOSUR, now including
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela (Paraguay’s membership is suspended due
to the parliamentary coup d’état against President Fernando Lugo), from growing
in strength and promoting sovereign economic and social policies in accordance
with national interests, far removed from the dictates of the discredited
financial institution of Bretton Woods and the anti-democratic Washington
consensus.

The U.S. maneuver to utilize the Paraguayan oligarchy, entrenched in the
country’s Senate, to block Venezuela’s entry backfired. In fact Paraguay’s
suspension and Venezuela’s participation could make MERCOSUR more attractive to
Bolivia, Ecuador and other nations in the region.

From the Planalto Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian government,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez emphasized the historic importance of the unity
of Latin American countries in terms of promoting their independent development,
within which MERCOSUR represents a platform for the changes needed.

"We are exactly in our historic position, our North is our South, we are
where we always should have been, we are where Bolívar left it to us to arrive,"
the Bolivarian leader affirmed during the extraordinary session of the bloc in
Brasilia.

What is being reconfigured is a balance which will allow South America to
address, on more equal footing, other centers of power such as the United States
and the European Union, which have demanded subordination and an anti-national
submission to their transnationals.BUILDING THE PATRIA GRANDE
According to analysts, Venezuela‘s incorporation into MERCOSUR makes the bloc
the world’s fifth largest economic power, extending from Patagonia to the
Caribbean over an area of close to 13 million square kilometers, linking more
than 270 million inhabitants (70% of the population of South America) to form an
impressive and gigantic bloc with the largest oil reserves, booming
industrialization and excellent potential for food production.

It will have a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $3.3 trillion at current
prices, equivalent to 83.2% of the Southern Cone GDP, and the largest global
biodiversity and fresh water reserves, a reality very much to be borne in mind
in terms of world geopolitics by the select club of the G-8 and emerging giants
such as China and India, two nations which have a more constructive position in
international economic relations.

In the internal context, Venezuelan José Gregorio Piña emphasizes that while,
initially, the country was only offering MERCOSUR oil and hard currency, "the
panorama has changed, given that it can develop its productive potential through
a more complete relationship with bloc members, which includes complementary
trade, a innovative financial architecture, internal regional investment and the
free circulation of persons and jobs, among others."

Caracas has already invited MERCOSUR enterprises to participate in housing
provision for the Venezuelan people, with a target of three million family
units, as well as conjoint work with the state to promote other social,
industrial and agricultural development projects. The new Venezuela wishes to
leave behind the private model to which it was subjected by the United States,
the only legacy of which was enormous social inequality and widespread
poverty.

This effort will benefit from the bloc’s creation of a Structural Convergence
Fund to reduce imbalances among its members, in a necessary spirit of solidarity
with the less developed nations. "This is an experiment to reduce the imbalances
of our countries and promote equitable regional development," stated Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff during the extraordinary summit. She also noted that 40
regional projects have been approved, with an initial start-up fund of $1.1
trillion, good news further boosted by MERCOSUR’s announced expansion of credit
to promote the economy of this part of the world.PROTECTING MERCOSUR

Given the blows the United States delivered to progressive processes in
Honduras and Paraguay, a reaction to Venezuela’s inclusion in MERCOSUR is also
anticipated. The country will use any possible means to prevent a united,
prosperous and strong South America capable of defying its political hegemony
and global economy.

This warning was given by Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,
who urged the member countries present at the summit "to create, sooner rather
than later, the instruments and institutions which will make this new pole of
power indestructible and indivisible." The Argentine leader strongly attacked
attempts by imperialist nations to weaken South America.

MERCOSUR is thus moving ahead to create the Patria Grande to which
Latin American and Caribbean nations rightly aspire.

The Minister of Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett addressed the House of Assembly on “Planning Our Electric Future”, on Wednesday, August 14.

Wednesday marked the PLP’s 100th day in office, so we were not surprised to hear of a plan to combat high electricity costs and promises of alternative energy production.

But The Bahamas does not need and does not have the time for any more plans; the PLP had five years to devise a plan. We need action.

Integrating alternative and preferably renewable energy production into our power generation portfolio is certainly the way of the future, but was it not the way of the future years ago? Diversified energy production — coal, diesel, nuclear, etc. — is not a radically new idea and is practiced in many jurisdictions around the world.

The dramatic rise in fuel prices is no excuse. Fuel prices have consistently been on the rise for the past 10 years, at least, and we see no indication that OPEC intends to diminish rising profits any time soon. Blaming high energy costs on the high cost of fuel is a dated argument, for which the past and present governments have only reinforced by building and upgrading power production with additional heavy fuel oil generators.

Any additional investment in heavy fuel generation should not be considered as part of reducing the cost of electricity, unless BEC enters a public-private partnership in which maintenance becomes a priority. Abaco still suffers inconsistent electricity and it was the recipient of the $105 million new 48MW Wilson City plant.

Bahamians are left to bear the brunt of high costs and low reliability brought on by poor planning and management of operations and maintenance.

The minister went on to indicate that the Government of The Bahamas is considering proposals for solar energy, waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy plants and wind. The geographic and physical setting of The Bahamas lends itself to a myriad of alternative energy possibilities.

So why hasn’t The Bahamas invested or been the recipient of private investment in alternative energy? In an ironic twist of fate, Bahamian legislation is our biggest obstacle. The government must relinquish absolute control over the national grid to allow for some friendly competition to BEC.

As if amending our existing legislation was not difficult enough, pursuing diversification of energy production in The Bahamas will be encumbered by the announcement of a new sustainable energy unit, new renewable energy legislation, new electricity sector regulation and a new national review plan for cross-island sharing.

The government must be transparent and honest with the Bahamian people. When will we see public or private investment in alternative energy? Private industry does not have years to twiddle its thumbs while we form new committees.

Should a renewable project be approved tomorrow, it would take years for such projects to ultimately be built and for new electricity to be put into the grid for consumption. Action must be taken and quickly. The time for action is not now, it was yesterday.

It is encouraging that the government has received proposals that intend on saving BEC $100 million annually, though such enormous sums of monetary savings leave us intrigued. The government need not only approve a single entity for alternative power production but an array of alternatives, as some are bound to fail.

It would be a remarkable feat of the PLP’s tenure if alternative power production from a private entity was to enter the grid and coexist with BEC. It is possible, but only if the government acts as a facilitator rather than a hindrance.

Bahamas Called Out On Abortions

By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Features Write
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas

Although abortion is currently illegal in the Bahamas, the government
revealed that it is aware of cases where licensed physicians perform
abortions in private and public hospitals for justifiable reasons.

Such abortions are
made possible because “the law is interpreted very liberally”, according
to a report submitted by the government last month to the international
committee of the United Nations governing discrimination against women.

During
its fifth periodic report to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the government stated
that abortions are performed in the Bahamas on “grounds of foetal
deformity and rape or incest, as well as on health grounds”. CEDAW is an
international human rights treaty that focuses on women’s rights and
women’s issues worldwide, ratified by the Bahamas in 1993.

“Abortions
are usually performed within the first trimester, although they are
often allowed up to 20 weeks of gestation. The abortion must be
performed in a hospital by a licensed physician. Government hospitals
bear the cost for non-paying patients,” states the government’s CEDAW
report, which is available online.

Despite
the report’s detailed account of the practice as it occurs in the
Bahamas, the Bahamian government “avoided answering specific questions”
posed by the experts on the CEDAW committee about the availability of
statistics regarding state-sanctioned abortions, according to observers.

“Their
fall-back position that abortions are illegal was inadequate, because
the committee was not asking about illegal abortions. The committee was
asking for statistics on state-sanctioned abortions, which the
government, in its written report, suggested occurs,” said Donna
Nicolls, civil society representative for the Bahamas, and presenter of
the Bahamas Crisis Centre’s shadow report.

“The
Cuban representative on the committee said she was not convinced by the
government’s response. She said that normally statistics on illegal
abortions are not shown; however, if the state says that abortion can be
practised in a safe space, she questioned why the state doesn’t have
statistics. If it is being done, certainly a register would be
maintained,” said Ms Nicolls, who participated in the forum through the
assistance of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW),
Asian Pacific.

Former
Minister of Health Dr Hubert Minnis said he had “no comment” on the
abortion issue, because he was in “Abaco campaigning.” When asked if he
was aware of any state-sanctioned abortions from his five years in
government, he replied: “No comment.”

A
respected medical doctor, who works in the public system, told The
Tribune, there are no statistics on abortion because the market for
abortions in the Bahamas is underground. The physician said the practice
is governed by a “nod and a wink” culture, quietly supported by some
licensed physicians.

“Don’t
ask, don’t tell,” said the physician, but you can obtain an abortion in
the Bahamas for around $750, although the price varies above and below
depending on the physician or the location. Access to abortions, he
said, is rife with class discrimination.”

“If
you have the means to an abortion, it is not a big deal. You can
travel, or you can have it done here safely, but if you are a poor
woman, then dog eat your lunch. This becomes a massive issue, but how do
you deal with this issue, when it is taboo. It is absolutely taboo,”
said the physician.

“You
have such a strong pseudo-Christian movement that is so hypocritical.
Many people are just not prepared to deal with the backlash, despite the
fact that quietly they will either perform abortions or see to it that
they get done. Some of the most active abortionists who have moved away
from it in the later years, you wouldn’t think they have ever performed
an abortion,” the physician said.

“Ethical and less than ethical means of abortion exist in the Bahamas. The challenge is that it is not codified.”

Abortion
is criminalised in the Bahamas through the Penal Code of 1924. In its
“very limited” references to abortion, it allows “for abortions to be
lawfully permitted under specific circumstances relating explicitly to
the preservation of the mental and physical health of the woman and to
save the life of the woman.”

However,
the law also states that acts that lead to an abortion or are intended
to cause an abortion that done “in good faith and without negligence for
the purposes of medical or surgical treatment” are justifiable.
According to the government report, the code does not define what
constitutes medical or surgical treatment, and in practice, the law is
interpreted very liberally.

The
CEDAW committee reiterated its “concern” in its concluding
observations, and called on the government to “broaden the conditions
under which abortions can be legally available.”

Ms Nicolls said she concurred with the committee’s recommendations.

“Women
should be able to access legal abortions without question in cases of
rape and incest and in other circumstances where a woman’s health is at
risk. The law should explicitly provide exceptions in those cases. It
should not be ad hoc, or based on a ‘liberal interpretation’. Everyone
should have equal access,” said Ms Nicolls.

Melanie
Griffin, Minister of Social Services, could not be reached for comment
and did not return calls. Barbara Burrows, Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Social Services, who was a member of the Bahamas’
delegation, said she would seek answers to written questions provided by
The Tribune.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

New Study Claims Venezuela a World Leader in Increasing Internet Usage

By Ewan Robertson

Mérida, 13th August 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) –
Venezuela leads the world in increasing internet usage, according to a
study by internet marketing research firm Comscore.

The study revealed that between April 2011 and April 2012 the number
of people using the internet in Venezuela increased by 62%, ahead of
India (34%) and Indonesia (29%).

The findings contrast with Venezuela’s own national
telecommunications body CONATEL, which reports that internet access here
has increased by 7% in the past year.

According to CONATEL 40.27% of Venezuelan’s have access to the
internet, up from only 3.4% in 2000, and there is a higher level of
access than all countries in South America apart from Chile (58%),
Argentina (57%) and Colombia (50%).

However, by using a new methodology focused on measuring the number
of internet users rather than the number of connections, for example in
households with a wireless router, Comscore claims that the increase in
internet usage in Venezuela is actually much greater.

“Our sources are experts in Venezuela who tell us how internet use is
evolving. We also take a census measurement, we take the CONATEL
measurements into account, and other media contribute their [internet]
traffic data to us,” Comscore director for Venezuela and Colombia, Alex
Castro, explained to BBC World recently.

Factors

According to digital market research firms Comscore and Digital
Trends (TD), increased access to previously marginalised communities has
been an important factor in explaining the sharp rise of internet usage
in Venezuela.

“What has grown most in [internet] penetration is access by poor; you
don’t even need to get the exact number. The poor are connecting to the
internet more,” claimed Carlos Jimenez, president of TD.
The government of President Hugo Chavez has introduced a number of
policies over the previous twelve years aimed at increasing internet
access in Venezuela.

A key initiative has been the Infocentros; free to use internet cafes
that now boast a network of 700 centres in low income and rural
communities throughout the country. In January the Infocentro Foundation
was awarded a prize by UNESCO in recognition for their role in
providing access to information technology for traditionally excluded
sectors of the population.

Since 2009, the government has also provided almost 2 million Canaima
laptops to primary school children in order to incorporate technology
use in the education system.

The public telecommunications company CANTV, nationalised in 2007,
offers credits and loans to allow lower-income users who solicit an
internet connection to buy computers, an initiative that has “born
fruit” in increasing internet access, according to Jimenez.

Private television companies offering combined internet and
television packages, and a sharp rise in the number of users of cell
phones with internet capabilities have also contributed.

Alex Castro further commented that Venezuela’s index of a more equal
distribution of wealth has likely been a factor in increasing internet
usage among Venezuela’s poorer communities. “When I passed through the
poor neighbourhoods of Caracas, it really surprised me that many had
Direct TV, and I asked myself “What’s this?” In Colombia for example, we
see that the marginal sectors really are just that”.

Challenges

However, Venezuela is also considered to have one of the slowest
internet connections in the world, and is currently ranked on
speedtest.net as 157 (at 1,7Mbph) of 176 countries measured by internet
speed. Internet connectivity is also still largely limited to cities.

The government is currently constructing 5.796 km of fibre optic
cable, with continuing to increase internet access part of Chavez’s
Socialist Plan of the Nation 2013 – 2019.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

And yes, we won the “battle,” more than 174 years ago when British
missionaries in then British Guiana tried their hardest to convert as
many East Indian-Muslims to Christianity in the colony, despite the fact
that they failed to do so during their reign in Hindustan.

The Muslims in Guyana ought to celebrate this year’s Eid (and every day
for that matter) with much exuberance as they stood their ground in the
face of much cruelty, hardship and many adversities at the hands of
their plantation owners.

Had it not been for the adherence to the five pillars of Islam --
Tawheed (belief in one god), Namaz (prayers), Zakat (charity), Rozah
(fasting during Ramadhan) and the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Islam may
have also suffered a slow ‘death’ in the same manner it was
systematically eradicated amongst the enslaved African Muslims during
the period of slavery.

The Second Missionary Conference, “On Behalf of the Mohammedan World,”
was held on January 23- 28, 1911 in Lucknow, India. The Conference was
called for two main reasons to: (a) address the growing fear of the
colonialists that the total Muslim population had surpassed the
Christians by more than 5 million in the British Empire; and (b) review
the progress made, if any, and if not why not, to convert the East
Indians to Christianity by the missionaries in the various colonies of
the Empire. Among the reports presented during the Conference was a
section on British Guiana, Dutch Guiana and the West Indies, detailing
(i) the ‘rebirth’ of Islam in the region with the introduction of East
Indian indentured servants following the abolition of slavery; and (ii)
the impact Islam had on the freed Africans in the region, but especially
in British Guiana.

At the Conference, evangelists expressed their deep concern regarding
the spread of Islam, claiming that a century’s worth of missionary work
in British Guiana will be wasted if drastic steps were not taken to stop
the East Indian Muslims in their conversion of the Africans. They
recognized the fact that the learned Muslims (like Gool Mohammed Khan)
in British Guiana were “skillful debaters” who were well-versed in the
Bible and were able to “shake the faith of the uneducated Christians.”

The Conference concluded that the struggle for the future in British
Guiana will be a “battle between Christ and Mohammed.” The evangelists
regarded the Muslims as a threat and a bad influence on “their people,”
in referring to the freed Africans. They noted that in several cases
African Christians had “forsaken Christ for the prophet of Mecca”,
without any pressure from the East Indians, as the Africans felt a
greater affinity to Islam as many of them realized it was once their
religion as well.

The evangelists ‘discovered’ that Muslims on the whole resisted
conversion to Christianity. Hence, in their annual assessment of Muslims
in British Guiana, they labeled them as aggressive, stubborn and
organized and that they were a hindrance in their (evangelical) crusade
to change the religious demographic of the West Indies.

The greatest shock for the missionaries in British Guiana was the
realization, as expressed by Rev. J. B. Hill, of the aggressiveness of
the “docile coolie Mohammedans” in their new ‘homeland.’ Case in point,
two Muslim jahagis from Bihar who came on the Hesperus in 1838 -- Jumun
(age 27) and Phultun (age 28) -- were the first to rebel against the
‘slave-like’ conditions and ran away from Gladstone Estate just days
after they were transplanted on the plantation.

While there were other instances of rebellion amongst the Indians, the
one that many historians failed to acknowledge was the 1872 Devonshire
Castle riots, where about 300 sugar workers (Muslims and Hindus alike)
downed tools and confronted their white masters demanding better working
conditions and wages. In the ensuing ‘battle,’ five workers were gunned
down by the colonial police – two of them were Muslims – Ackloo and
Maxid Ally. Then in 1913, there was the Rosehall uprising, where most of
the protestors in the forefront ‘battling’ imperialism were Muslims --
Moula Bux, Jahangir Khan, Dildar Khan, Chotey Khan, Aladi, and Amirbaksh
– they all stood up against the injustices they were subjected to on
the plantation.

Fast forward to the 1940s, when there was an increased demand by the
Muslim leadership in British Guiana for funding of Islamic and Urdu
Schools. These propositions and requests were articulated in several
correspondences by the president of the Sadr Anjuman, Mr R. B. Gajraj
and Moulvi M. A Nasir to the British government but with little or no
success, they were basically ignored. Christian schools, on the other
hand, were heavily funded by the British, whereas the British government
consistently “paid” only lip service to the concerns of the Muslims in
British Guiana.

On August 21, 1941, the British Guiana Islamic Association (BGIA) called
a Special Conference on Education to discuss a uniform system of Muslim
religious education in accordance with the requirements of the
Education Code of British Guiana. The main speakers on the subject were:
Messrs M. A. Nasir (president) and Ayube M. Edun; also, present were K.
Ali, S. Shabratee, M.L.R Naboo, and S. M. Shakoor, the Urdu secretary.

Sadly, the recommendations and resolutions that emanated from that
conference and subsequent conferences fell on deaf ears – it was the
British way of getting back at the “aggressive” Muslims – which
ultimately contributed to the demise of the Urdu language, as the
Muslims did not have the human or financial resources to fund the
teaching of the language.

Muslims ‘fought’ hard to hold on to their religion and culture, despite
the fact that a number of them converted to Christianity (including many
Hindus). Those who converted were regarded as ‘civilized’ and rewarded
with better and higher paying jobs in the public service. Many of them
were also given scholarships to study in England as a bonus, while their
children were admitted to the Christian schools.

The ‘battle’, however, has not ended; much of the region still needs to
embrace this multicultural history. Muslims must not be seen as alien to
the West Indies, nor should they be ashamed of their Islamic heritage
given present day hysteria towards followers of the religion. More can
be done to educate and accept the long presence of the Muslims and their
role in helping to shape the socio-economic and political policies
affecting the work/lives of the peoples in the region.

Today, the younger generation needs to be educated on our history in
Guyana, and appreciate the [righteous] path that their ancestors blazed
for them to follow. We share an Islamic history that is rich in many
spheres of math, astronomy, physics, literature, architecture and
culinary. In fact, many scholars agree that Islamic science and reason
led to the revival of the European Renaissance, following the decline of
the Roman Empire.

A blessed Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

SO Jamaica's 50th anniversary celebrations are now behind us. We now journey as a nation towards the 100th anniversary milestone via the 60th, 70th, 75th, 80th and 90th anniversary milestones. The joy and happiness at our 50th anniversary celebrations were great. Of course, the naysayers were there but such people exist in every country.

I would have liked to have had even more historical reflections. It is my hope that at future anniversaries there should be more such reflections. I would like to commend the planners of the Jubilee Village and those of the Grand Gala, which were really as next to perfect as possible where only the directors would see the mistakes, if any.

But had I been in the planning committee of the Jubilee Village, I would have suggested an imposing sign that stated that 90 per cent of the displays were showing things that did not exist at the time of political Independence in 1962.

It is also a pity that we have not been able to shake some of the indiscipline that we have inherited. As the crowds filtered out of the stadium after such a wonderful Grand Gala on Independence Day, some technician or other decided that after all the recorded festival music developed since 1962, it was time to play lewd music. They could not even endure 24 hours without slackness!

It should be noted that the joy and happiness is due to the fact that most people like a party, even if they do not exactly understand what is being celebrated or even believe that there should be a celebration. As I mentioned last week, I hope that the older ones will get over their unwarranted shame so that they can truly educate the youth into an appreciation of what life was like in Jamaica in 1962.

But perhaps at the 75th or 100th anniversary, fewer of us will be alive to feel ashamed and the history can be looked at in a more dispassionate manner. Students of history will dig more into the material that exists and will be able to draw their own conclusions. I probably will not live to see the 100th anniversary of Independence (unless I live to at least 108).

But it is still my hope that by then Jamaica will be a republic based on co-operatives that spring from a nation of family units that we are yet to have. And I hope it happens before our 60th anniversary in 10 years' time. After all, we have been talking about this for decades.

Two things I have suggested before, and I suggest again. First, there should be an emancipendence meal similar to the Jewish Agape meal at their annual Passover celebration. Second, churches should have an Octave of Emancipendence or eight days of reflective prayer on Emancipation and Independence, as I have been privately doing for the last three years.

The octave that I developed runs the eight days from July 31 to August 7. It is my hope that others will join me next year. I hope that the octave will become a tradition by the time we reach our 60th anniversary in 10 years' time.

I have also suggested in the past that Jamaica should have an international negotiations conference as part of Independence celebrations. I envisioned having a major conference and staging it somewhere like the various conference centres, auditoriums and conference halls at hotels. We would also go through the negotiations from the days of self-government (half-Independence) to after political Independence when we did several negotiations. This should be not only about borrowing but also about trade.

It seems that if this is to take place it will have to be organised by a few people with vision. Indeed, if I could have done it by myself it would have been done already. I would include all former ambassadors and politicians involved in such negotiations. It would also include those who represented agricultural organisations on negotiation teams in the days when agricultural trade was the economic mainstay of Jamaica. While we should plan for a day when we stop borrowing, negotiation is a skill that we can make money from by teaching it to others.

I also hope that educational programmes will be in place to stop mental slavery. It takes many forms; one is the belittling of the self, especially the black skin of the majority of Jamaicans. It also takes the form of belittling all things Jamaican, although that is not so much a problem as our athletes currently win gold medals. But it also takes the form of erroneously believing that we would be better off as a Bristish colony and that our gains would have come anyway. We need as a nation to unlearn that.

We need to invite nationalistic Caymanians here to express their anger when hearing Jamaicans say that Cayman's economic success is due to their colonial status. The Cayman Islands have had self-government (half-Independence) for more than two decades. Some Caymanians say that the only thing Britain does for them is to pay the governor's salary.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

We already have an identity, but we do not know it. We're like a wild orchid with graceful lengths of flowers in the rainforest that simply are what we are: beautiful, but without self-consciousness.

What we don't know is easily lost or given away cheaply because we take it for granted. Jamaica and the pearl of great price; Jamaica and its exotic flowers in the mountains, Jamaica, our music and drumming; Jamaica and its strange orchid people - growing naturally, freely, beautifully - only to be seized by strangers.

We don't know who we are; we don't know what's inside of ourselves. We will lose our souls - if we do not grasp our own inner riches and own up to our God-given inner being.

I was curious as a boy born in the countryside of Richmond, St Mary. Who are these lovely people swathed in smiles, chatty and friendly, on the move but never in a hurry. What are those bamboo trees doing gently waving in the sky and wind? Why are the African tulips just blossoming - for what purpose? And the mango trees full of fruit in the wild with no one to eat them?

At age 12, I discerned Christ. Everybody was talking about Christ - the higglers, the farmers, the teachers, the children, the mamas and the papas.

When we bathed in the aluminium pan, our nannies were humming softly, "What a friend we have in Jesus." When we misbehaved, we were chastised in Jesus' name. When we skipped rope, it was done to rhymes about the Lord.

Then the telling of the stories of the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on the water, the miracles of Christ's love for the sick and the poor, then His terrible crucifixion, and His forbearance.

I was hurt deeply by His pain and suffering, this Son of the Creator, this Jesus who loves me so deeply and gave me everything.

Christ's value

My inner soul responded to Christ, and now I seek only to serve Him. He is the depth of Jamaica's music and kindness. He is the foundation of our identity, our humour, our optimism and our dynamic drive for meaning, purpose and evangelisation. He is our gentleness, our sternness, our confidence, our strength in suffering, our struggles on our way to grace and dignity as a people.

We must not lose Him. Not for the highways, foreign clothes, foreign music and technology, and advanced but godless education and values.

We don't know it. But the dynamic element in the Jamaican personality - in our athletes, our music and culture, in the best of our political leaders and intellectuals - are rooted in Christ.

Our self-assertion and confidence come from Him. Our God and Saviour who has given us so much has also sustained us all these years.

I have one fear: That we will sell out to foreign gods. I pray that we will know who we are, where we come from, and where we are going, carrying at all times Jesus at the depth of our souls.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

“If I could give a prize to anyone for the single greatest idea,”
American philosopher Daniel Dennett said in Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, his
study of the significance of Darwin’s theory of natural selection and
human evolution, “I would give it to Darwin.”

These are not idle words. While the idea of organisms undergoing gradual
changes over thousands or millions of years was not entirely new -- the
French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck had championed it decades
before Darwin, and shadows of the idea can be seen even in the work of
the ancient Roman poet Lucretius and in the ninth-century Islamic writer
Al-Jahith’s Book of Animals -- Darwin went further than anyone before
him by showing the mechanism by which evolution could occur: natural
selection. He showed that organisms adapt to their environments
gradually and that all life on Earth -- including humans -- shares a
common ancestor.

Think of it like a tree. All life shares a common root, despite having
branched off in many directions, and many branches themselves have
branches, and while some branches are still functioning, many others
have died off. Although evolutionary biology has evolved -- as it were
-- a lot since Darwin’s day, particularly with the development of
genetics, Darwin himself remains one of the most important and
controversial figures in western history.

But evolution appears to remain little-understood or accepted by the
general public in many islands in the Caribbean. Bring up the idea of
evolution to the average person on the street, and it is quite possible
you will receive either a blank stare or hear the idea condemned as
anti-religious nonsense.

Some -- and I have seen this a number of times before -- will even tell
you the idea of evolution is nothing less than a worldwide conspiracy
perpetrated by satanic scientists (the same people who will likely
believe, without any clear evidence, that the world is run by a secret
organization like the Illuminati or that the 1969 moon landing was a
hoax).

Some will even say the whole idea is too silly to be believed, as though
the overwhelming number of biologists who support the theory are less
conspiratorial than simply foolish.

“If we came from monkeys,” they might say, “why it still have monkeys?”
(Of course, this objection is based on a misunderstanding; we are
primates ourselves, but we share an ancestor with other monkeys, rather
than them simply turning into humans. Think of the tree branch image --
we go back to the same tree limb, but chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos,
and homo sapiens -- we humans -- have branched off in different
directions.)

Accepting that all the evidence we currently have supports the theory of
evolution (and I must clarify here that the word “theory” here does not
mean “unproved”; gravity and electromagnetism are also “theories”) is
important. It is one step towards becoming more scientifically literate
in a world in which scientific literacy is ever more important, almost
regardless of what field you may be engaged in. It will show that we in
the Caribbean are not closed-minded or anti-science.

To reject an idea as important and well-accounted-for as evolution is to
suggest that you do not trust scientific discoveries and that you are
not willing to critically examine the world around you, as well as the
history of ideas. Modern-day biology and medicine are often inseparable
from evolutionary theory.

Now, even people who study the idea and come to almost accept it may
still stop short because they think it conflicts with their religious
beliefs. To accept evolution, after all, is to accept that humans were
not specially created, but rather simply one product of a long line of
blind natural processes. But many religious people have made peace with
this.

Some have even refashioned evolution to be “guided” by God rather than
altogether natural and blind, such that God intervened at a critical
point in the process -- just as God might have, they say, set off the
Big Bang (an idea unrelated to evolution). Still others put God as the
spark that set evolution going -- since evolutionary theory is only
about the process of organisms changing, not an explanation of how life
itself first appeared from non-life. (That process is known as
abiogenesis.)

Whatever the case, the fact is that many well-educated people of faith
do not see evolution as their enemy -- and they should not, since it is
well-supported by scientific evidence.

In the Caribbean, very often, we don’t really stop and think about
things like this. Or we may start and then stop once we get into tricky
territory. At other times, some of us are simply so focused on other
things that we do not give adequate -- if any -- time to critically
examining the world around us. Instead, we just accept simple answers we
may have heard as children.

This isn’t the way a strong society of well-equipped individuals should
operate. We should have the courage to boldly question every idea we
hold -- including, of course, evolution itself. We must not be afraid to
ask questions, to probe into dark tunnels -- and, more importantly, to
find answers we may not like on the other end.

This may seem like a minor issue to some of you. But I do not think it
necessarily is. Being scientifically literate (as well as literate in
many other ways) is important -- and I mean on an individual, as well as
a national, level. Those of us who have not considered the issue
before, I encourage you to go out and look it up -- and, while you’re at
it, to examine every other idea you hold dear, be that idea big or
small. What justifies your beliefs? Why do you think the way you do? Are
you thinking rationally? Can you really explain how something works
that you believe in? To reject an idea, you must at very least first
understand it.

Therefore, check out the wealth of information on evolution out there:
Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution Is True, Michael Ruse’s The Philosophy of
Human Evolution, Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth, and many,
many more, from websites to videos. Search, question.

You may find universes in grains of sand, to paraphrase William Blake.

Jonathan Bellot is pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at Florida
State University, from where he also holds an MFA in Fiction. His work
has appeared in a variety of publications, including The New Humanism,
Transnational Literature, BIM: Arts for the 21st Century, Belletrist
Coterie, Black Lantern Publishing, and on Dominica News Online. He was
born in 1987 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Dominican parents and has lived in
Dominica since he turned nine.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

In 1833, the British Parliament passed an Act to abolish slavery in the British Empire. As of August 1, 1834,
all slaves throughout the empire were to become free to some degree —
if they were under the age of six, they would become free immediately,
but if they were over six, they were to be apprenticed to their former
masters. Apprenticeship was finally abolished on August 1, 1838.

It
is partly for this reason that Emancipation Day is a holiday in The
Bahamas. It is a holiday throughout the former British slave colonies of
the Caribbean as well — and the reason that Jamaica,
for example, chose it as its Independence Day. We don’t celebrate our
holiday on August 1, although we remember the date; rather, we have
chosen to make the nearest Monday the holiday.

Here,
then, together with hot weather, rain, and hurricanes, the summer
months bring the twin holidays that commemorate our freedom. As a
nation, we have the opportunity of remembering how far we have come, of
honouring our ancestors who — slave and master alike — were dehumanized
by the institution of slavery and indentureship.

So far, though, we
have not made the most of this opportunity. Oh, we celebrate all right.
We have a Junkanoo parade on Independence Day, and two Junkanoo parades
on the August Holiday weekend. We have cook-outs (what better way to
party than eating?) But that’s about as far as it goes. Indeed,
considering the amount of time we spend speaking of such things, it’s
possible to imagine that if a Bahamian child didn’t grow up watching
American television, they might be surprised to learn that Bahamians
were once ever slaves.

And yet.

As
I’ve written before, slavery is not over in the Caribbean. I’m not
talking about the kind of “slavery” that people like to raise when
making these kinds of statements — a “slavery” that assumes that every
Black Bahamian is subordinate to and poorer than every White Bahamian,
that assumes that all Whites were slave owners and all Blacks slaves,
that believes that Black Bahamian slaves were captured in African
jungles and transported to The Bahamas on slave ships — an image of
slavery that has more to do with history as outlined in the ABC
miniseries Roots than our own story, which is far more complicated and
interesting.

No.
I’m talking about the kind of slavery Bob Marley recognized in his own
people when he wrote and performed his “Redemption Song” — the mental
slavery that continues to dominate our society.

What
do I mean by mental slavery? It manifests itself in a number of
different ways. There are the obvious — the concept that Bahamians
aren’t able to do things very well, and the resultant habit of looking
elsewhere for models and expertise; the preference for hiring
consultants from abroad to give advice that Bahamian experts have
already considered and rejected; the willingness to privilege outside
plans for development over local ones; the general contempt for anything
home-grown, and the overconsumption of anything from across the sea.

But
as common as these tendencies are, I’m thinking of other, smaller, more
insidious actions and habits that show the residue of slavery in our
everyday lives.

The
biggest one is the apparent reluctance of the ordinary employee ever to
make a decision. Decisions, you see, require that one take
responsibility for those decisions, and if one is wrong, one gets in
trouble. The result — particularly in the civil service, but not only
there — is that for too many people, there is only one way of doing
something.

How
many of us have found ourselves in a situation where we make a request
that is unusual, that takes a salesperson out of her comfort zone, that
surprises her, forces her to think?

The result: roadblock.

Another
one, though, that I get to see often in my line of work, is the
tendency of many people who are possessed with a good idea to seek first
and foremost the kingdom of Government Money.
Despite the fact that we live in a society which welcomes millions of
tourists every year, in which money flows like water, in which Bahamians
as well as visitors are willing to spend good cash on things they
enjoy, we seem to believe that our enterprise must first and foremost be
supported by handouts from the public treasury.

A
third is the paralysis that I also witness, as a manager of a
department and as a teacher of students, among people who seem to be
waiting for someone to tell them What To Do. They can’t — or won’t — act
unless they get an order or a clearance from above.

All of these are examples of the mental slavery from which we continue to need emancipation.

Emancipation, you see, only begins with the awarding of political freedom. It is true that on August 1, 1834,
slaves were given the gift of themselves; they were able, for the first
time since their enslavement, to own their bodies, their loved ones,
their offspring, and their possessions.

But the residue of slavery
lingers still. The political and physical emancipation of the slaves
didn’t mean that there was a corresponding psychic and mental freedom
that came with it. That has to be worked on.

So it’s that time of the year again; it’s our freedom time. Massa’s
long gone. It’s time for us to realize that every West Indian who refuses
to make a decision, every Bahamian who seeks a handout, every West
Indian who looks outside our region for validation, every Bahamian who
believes that what we do isn’t good enough, is in need of emancipation
still.

It’s time we emancipate ourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.

Friday, August 3, 2012

WHAT has shame or embarrassment to do with communicating history? And
what has this to do with our emancipendence celebrations, particularly
in a year when we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of our
Independence? One of the unfortunate legacies of certain types of
government and economic models is the class system. It has created the
misleading belief that some people are better than others.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the notion of superiority and
inferiority based on class and colour is a sin against the great
commandment of "Love thy neighbour as thyself". The said church further
teaches that with regard to race it cannot be proved either in scripture
or in a science laboratory that any race is superior to the other.

But like any other religious institution, not all Roman Catholics have
the same level of understanding. So even within a church that abhors
class prejudice, in its doctrine it exists within its borders. And
wherever it exists, there is usually a sense of shame on the part of the
victims of such prejudice.

Many young people do not appreciate how far we have come since
Independence, let alone slavery, because they were not taught what it
was like before. Many times their parents do not want to tell them what
Jamaica was like as they are ashamed to admit the conditions under which
they lived because they were looked down upon and ridiculed by others.

Fifty-two years ago in 1960 when I was six years old, my parents left me
and my siblings in the care of our maternal grandmother while they went
on tour of New York, USA, England and the European continent. My father
heard the following story in England and told us on his return.

A Jamaican living in England where he was courting an English girl
(white-skinned, I believe), showed her a picture of Hope Gardens and
told her that it was his backyard. After the wedding she wanted to take a
trip to Jamaica to see the place. The man was ashamed to tell his wife
the truth. But how would his children learn to appreciate his efforts to
improve their lives if he was ashamed to tell them where he grew up,
even if on Spanish Town Road or Back-o-Wall?

In 1967 when I was 13 years old, I saw a photograph in the Star of a
Jamaica Omnibus Service (JOS) bus driver who had received an award for
good driving. A cloth badge was sewn to his right shirt sleeve. On
several occasions while taking a JOS bus, I recognised him as the driver
who won the award. Fourteen years later in 1981, I saw him in Papine.
By this time he walked with a limp.

The JOS awardee told me that he was retired. He sat on the stone wall by
the Hope Aqueduct next to what was then CAST (now UTech) and told me of
his struggles to give all his children a good education by sending them
to some of Jamaica's best high schools. He also spoke about
attaining the award from JOS.

During the conversation I learnt that the retired bus driver was a Roman
Catholic like me and that he had seen me at church. He surprised me by
telling the names of his sons because I knew some of them from Roman
Catholic circles of which he was very much aware and was the reason for
telling me that he was Roman Catholic. He was extremely proud of his
eldest son, who by that time had become a senior accountant at a large
company in Jamaica and who, I believe, became a chartered accountant.

That top-level accountant today is himself retired from the company
where he was employed, although his youngest children are still of high
school age. He holds a prominent position in the Roman Catholic Church,
particularly in the Archdiocese of Kingston. His father, the retired bus
driver, died some years ago.

Less than three weeks ago, I was at a Roman Catholic Church and saw one
of the sons of the top-level accountant and grandson of the late retired
bus driver. In discussion with him, I told him that I knew his
grandfather who had won an award as a JOS bus driver. The boy, about 15
years old, looked at me and asked in a tone of disbelief, "A bus driver,
Sir?"

The boy's father had clearly not told him that his grandfather had been a
bus driver, which I suspect was for reasons of shame, although I would
not say that to the boy. I "polished it off" by telling him the
teachings of our church on the dignity of labour.

I will not stand in judgement of this top-level accountant who has not
revealed his humble beginnings as the son of a bus driver to his
children. How much ridicule - if any - did he endure from upper-class
students at the prominent high school he attended? I do not know,
although I am aware that no one enjoys being ridiculed.

But how can the young people appreciate the struggles of the last 50
years of Independence, let alone the struggles before emancipation if we
do not get over the shame that is totally unwarranted? The only thing
that anyone should be ashamed of is sin.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Caribbean governments’ focus on crime has recently taken on increased
urgency. Pressures at home from previously silent populations, and
visitors and investors alike noting crime as a factor in deciding where
they go makes the issue one that can no longer be ignored. While many
try to blame crime levels on the deportation of criminals from North
America and the UK, the reality is probably closer to home -- the
vaunted social fabric of Caribbean countries is frayed.

Urbanization and the loss of social and familial community linkages, it
is argued by some, is the problem. This combined with underemployment
among the youth and a lack of programs that provide skills training for
the jobs that are available is also a factor, leaving many increasingly
dependent on an informal job market that offers little in terms of a
sustainable future.

Weak legal systems, which encourage a sense of impunity by bad actors,
are not helpful, and weak border controls that facilitate the
inter-island movement of drugs and small arms allow for negative inputs.
The use of the region as a hub for illicit traffic of drugs to the US
further strains efforts of governments to protect themselves and their
vulnerable populations.

In terms of solutions, an increased focus on community development and
outreach programs from both the political and corporate elite can help
mitigate against losing a generation exposed to limited options for a
productive and legal future. That said, corporate social responsibility
programming is not yet a fully understood and developed concept in the
Caribbean. Finally, adaptation of the traditional school curricula to
one that focuses attention on programs that correspond to current needs
can be positive.

The above, combined with community policing initiatives that position
trained and trusted law enforcement personnel in host communities can
serve to ensure that fringe populations feel less divorced from upscale
and often enclave centres. An improved and efficient legal system that
can leverage social initiatives to train and assist first time offenders
can also address recidivism concerns. Introduction of a restorative
justice system (successfully implemented in some countries) where it
does not exist in the Caribbean may be helpful in this regard.

An interconnected Caribbean region means increased movement of people
and goods. The effective sharing of information on crime; persons linked
to crime; and the movement of guns and drugs is fundamental for any
regional success. A sharing of best practices in this arena and the
support of these efforts by donor countries such as the United States is
critical. Further to the US-Caribbean partnership on addressing crime, a
focus by both partners on the development of modular programs that
build on past successes is key; as is the ability of initiatives to
survive changes in administrations.

In closing, the Caribbean must become a stronger advocate for its
interests and needs, articulating plans for implementation rather than
wait for the delivery of fully formed solutions from the US.

The above was a response to recent statements on crime and regional
dysfunction in addressing the issue by Trinidad & Tobago Minister of
National Security Jack Warner.